Simon Harris admits Ireland is relying on 'dirty fossil fuels'
Tánaiste and finance minister Simon Harris was responding to Dublin South-West Labour TD Ciarán Ahern during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil. Picture: Oireacthas TV/PA
Tánaiste Simon Harris has admitted that as long as Ireland is relying on “dirty fossil fuels”, the country will not have adequate economic security.
It comes as he confirmed to Labour TD Ciaran Ahern during Leaders’ Questions that public expenditure minister Jack Chambers will engage with the opposition on concerns that the Critical Infrastructure Bill will limit people’s ability to object to projects on environmental grounds.
Mr Ahern said the Government is not addressing people’s energy bills by taking targeted climate measures.
“Where is the bailout package for PAYE workers to protect their incomes, to reduce their bills with targeted energy credits and measures to adopt solar and retrofitting at scale?” he asked.
“Too many people simply can't afford to even consider getting SEAI grants [for retrofitting].
“If successive Governments had taken our climate commitment seriously, we wouldn't be in the cost-of-living crisis that we are now with some of the highest energy prices in Europe.”
Mr Ahern pointed out that Ireland is set to miss its legally binding climate targets by as much as 50%, which would lead to fines worth billions of euros.
He also noted that private wire legislation will lead to the data centres getting access to more energy, while “ordinary workers will pay the price for all of this” through their energy bills.
He also suggested that the Government does not “want to bother with the climate act at all when it comes to large critical infrastructure projects”. Mr Chambers previously said there will be a clampdown on environmental objections, as he suggested people were “weaponising” the Climate Act.
In response, the Tánaiste said that while 50% of Ireland’s energy supply in March came from renewable sources, more needs to be done.
“As long as we're dependent on dirty fossil fuels from abroad, there is a security issue in every sense, including an economic security issue too,” he conceded.
“But we are making some progress under the work of [Climate] Minister [Darragh] O'Brien.
“We did see 58,000 homes retrofitted last year. We've seen record demand this year, over 29,000 applications already in. We've improved the grants. It was too cumbersome to have to do everything together.
“As a result of those changes, the approval of the grants for heat pumps up 95%, roof insulation up 81%, cavity wall insulation up 62% as well.”
Mr Harris said projects considered under the Critical Infrastructure legislation could include renewable energy projects as well.
He added: “I do believe at times, environmental law can be a factor when there are projects that we need to deliver at real speed. This is not about all projects. It's about projects that are deemed to be critical.”
The Tánaiste also vowed that Mr Chambers will continue to engage with the opposition as the legislation progresses.
Elsewhere, in tetchy exchanges with Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty, the Tánaiste warned that it was “not sustainable” to “get through this global economic crisis if every week we come into this house and the proposal is abolish taxes and spend more”.
He dismissed Sinn Féin’s proposal to reverse the carbon tax to 2023 rates and backdate the reversal to May 2023, as Revenue advised that it does “not hold records of individual end users when it comes to home heating”.
Pearse Doherty said the Government “don’t get it” and do not understand the fear of an unpaid energy bill or the “quiet dread of a cold home”.
“There’s a complete lack of urgency, of empathy, a lack of basic understanding from your Government, because what we’ve seen is just not inaction – it’s a pattern of behaviour, Tánaiste, a pattern of behaviour that poured fuel on this crisis."
Speaking about protesters who joined demonstrations, Mr Doherty said: “Now, adding insult to injury, many of those same workers are returning home to find parking fines landing through their letterbox. This is the wrong response.
“It’s a response that punishes people who are already pushed to the brink. People who didn’t have money last week, and now you’re asking them to fork up hundreds of euro in parking fines.
“For goodness sake, where’s the common sense in all of this? Have you learned nothing over the last week?”
- Louise Burne, Political Correspondent
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